The Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s (DISL) mission encompasses the pursuit of excellence in marine science education, marine research, coastal zone management policy and educating the general public through the Estuarium, our public aquarium.

The Presidents of Chief Executive Officers of the Member Institutions across the state of Alabama serve as the DISL’s Board of Directors, which determines the general policies of the Sea Lab. This board is know as the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium. You can find that listing here: Marine Enviromental Sciences Consortium.

The Dauphin Island Sea Lab Foundation (DISLF) supports the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in its mission, “to provide wise stewardship of the marine environment through education and research”. The foundation provides funds to sustain the activities of the Sea Lab and promotes awareness of the Sea Lab and its environmental issues. The Foundation is also continuing to build the George C. Crozier Endowment as well as the DISLF Endowment for the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

The BayMobile is DISL’s science classroom on wheels, whose mission is to visit underserved schools in the state of Alabama which do not have the opportunity or the means to visit the Dauphin Island Sea Lab on a field trip.

While the DISL serves as the focal point of graduate education in marine science in the state of Alabama, it is not a degree-granting institution, and graduate degrees are offered through ten of the 22 DISL Member Schools.

Since 1971, Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) personnel have collected valuable environmental and ecosystem level data as part of research and monitoring efforts in the fields of oceanography and ecology. These data are highly valuable to researchers, educators, managers, policy makers, and the general public.

The Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) has been a practicing member of American Academy of Underwater Science since 1992 and currently provides scientific diver training and oversite for all participating schools within the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium (MESC).

One of 12 consortia funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) and led by the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, ACER is comprised of 17 research scientists from nine universities investigating how biodiversity influences an ecosystem’s resilience. Specifically, the ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Estuarium at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab hosts a number of events for the public. The free, twice-monthly Boardwalk Talk program offers the public a chance to engage with the experts at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. The Summer Excursion program takes visitors into the habitats studied by our marine scientists, researchers and students at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

Discovery Day is the Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s open house for the public. Once a year, the public is given a tour of our research facilities to learn about our coastal environment and the research our team is working on.

July 2017

Unraveling the shark stigma with science

Dr. Marcus Drymon and his team pull a 10 foot tiger shark into the cradle to measure, weigh, tag, and release the shark.

Globally, shark researchers work daily to change the stigma associated with the large apex predator. Dr. Marcus Drymon with the University of South Alabama and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab is a part of that global team.

His research team has tagged over ten thousand sharks across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Each shark is identified to species, measured, weighed, tagged, and released. Through this shark monitoring program, Dr. Drymon has encountered two dozen different species of sharks, and is unraveling the factors that influence their distributional patterns. His findings indicate the importance of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and the distribution of sharks’ preferred prey, in determining why sharks move to certain areas.

Using the latest technology, Dr. Drymon can track these sharks in near real-time. In late June, his team tagged a 10 foot male tiger shark with a SPOT tag for satellite tracking. Within a week of tagging, the tiger shark had moved from the mouth of Mobile Bay to the waters off Mississippi, and then back towards Florida. Understanding detailed movement patterns for large predators like tiger sharks is critical to ensuring they are adequately managed.

On board the R/V Alabama Discovery during that tagging were educators from Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. The group was part of the Fins, Fishes, and Fisheries teacher workshop hosted by Discovery Hall Programs at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and sponsored by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.

Teachers with the Fins, Fishes, and Fisheries Teacher Workshop look on as Dr. Marcus Drymon and Emily Seubert measure, weigh, and tag a shark aboard the R/V Alabama Discovery. The workshop is sponsored by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.

"We learned so much from the experience," Jenni Zimlich, an ACCESS science educator in Alabama, said. "I was so intrigued at the compassion that these scientists took in their care of the sharks. They worked very quickly and assertively to get their information and release the sharks back into the Gulf. They were so nice in explaining what they were doing and why they were doing it."

"Most animals are not so dangerous unless they feel threatened," Jennifer Womack, a 4th grade science teacher from Gulfport, Mississippi, said. "They're reacting to the stress they're under, and not trying to hunt us down. They still have their preferred type of food."

As the teachers learned that day, there are times the preferred food is small birds. Feathers and bones were among the findings when Dr. Drymon demonstrated how scientists are able to learn about a shark's recent meal.

Moving into the classroom, Womack and Zimlich both plan to use what they learned on the boat to strengthen the knowledge of the shark with their students.

"I want to show them that there is such a diverse variety of shark species in the Gulf and that they depend on us to keep their habitat sustainable," Zimlich explained.

"I also took some pictures of the tools used aboard the vessel to share from the STEM aspect. Even if you're going to be a biologist, you're going to use aspects of engineering in your job. It's not just ocean, it's all science," Womack shared.

Watch the video below and see Dr. Drymon and his team tag the tiger shark. Also, click here for more on Dr. Drymon's research into the eating habits of tiger sharks.